Chapter 2784: Three-Life Gate
"Ancient Buddha Yuan Yi has also come to the Abyss of Darkness?" Xiao Hei exclaimed in shock.
Zhang Ruochen, Bore, Xiao Hei, and the awakened Hai Shui swiftly advanced along the direction where the fragments of divine soul within the Buddha marrow had emerged.
On the way, Xiao Hei inquired about Hai Shui's identity and, upon learning that she was a disciple of Ancient Buddha Yuan Yi, revealed a look of surprise.
Xiao Hei added, "If Ancient Buddha Yuan Yi has come to the Abyss of Darkness, he will surely come here. He might even take away the corpse of Ancient Buddha Yun Qing. I wonder if he has arrived yet."
"Even if he came to the Abyss of Darkness, he might not dare to enter the Ancient Desolate Ruins City," Zhang Ruochen said.
Xiao Hei snorted, "There's nothing in this world that a God Venerable-level powerhouse wouldn't dare to do."
...
The golden stream grew wider and wider, the Buddha liquid roaring like a surging river.
Xiao Hei occasionally let out sighs.
According to him, this Buddha liquid was the blood of Ancient Buddha Yun Qing. Even after being corroded by dark power for eight hundred thousand years, it still contained a vast amount of God Venerable substance, with powerful divinity and rich blood energy, far beyond what ordinary divine blood could compare to.
"It's a pity we can't use space treasures. Otherwise, collecting some Buddha liquid to take out would surely make a huge profit," Xiao Hei said, full of regret and disappointment.
"Goo-ah!"
From afar, a strange cry rang out.
The golden Buddha mist on the stream rippled slightly in response.
Hearing this sound, both Bore and Xiao Hei's expressions changed, and they turned to look back simultaneously.
"What's wrong?" Zhang Ruochen asked.
"Did you hear that cry just now?" Bore said.
Zhang Ruochen nodded.
"That's the cry of the ghost-type strange beast I told you about," she said.
Zhang Ruochen's expression couldn't help but change as well. "Could it have sensed our presence?"
"Let's go!"
Bore released her divine Qi, enveloping Zhang Ruochen and Hai Shui, and burst forward at maximum speed.
The cry sounded from behind from time to time, sending chills down their spines.
After racing for nearly ten thousand miles, the cry finally vanished completely. Bore slowed down, and everyone breathed a sigh of relief.
"That's terrifying. That ghostly thing—ordinary true gods simply can't contend with it," Xiao Hei said, still shaken.
"Look ahead," Zhang Ruochen said.
Ahead, the golden Buddha mist grew denser, blocking their view.
Bore led the way, with Xiao Hei at the rear, moving cautiously. They passed through dozens of miles of thick Buddha mist until suddenly, the view ahead opened up boundlessly.
While walking along the golden stream, the space had always been narrow, but here, the golden Buddha walls disappeared, and the golden stream had turned into a gaseous state.
Before them lay an endless golden cloud sea, the sky pitch black, with a bright golden edge at the horizon.
"Could this be the divine sea of Ancient Buddha Yun Qing?" Xiao Hei swallowed his saliva and stepped toward the cloud sea.
Zhang Ruochen stopped him. "Wait. The spatial structure here is a bit strange."
Zhang Ruochen condensed a sword Qi in his palm and shot it out.
The sword Qi flew for about a dozen miles when suddenly, the golden mist parted, revealing a black spatial rift dozens of feet wide that swallowed the sword Qi.
"Why is there a spatial rift here?" Hai Shui asked.
Zhang Ruochen said, "If Xiao Hei's guess is correct, this is the divine sea of Ancient Buddha Yun Qing. Then it's very likely that his divine sea has been shattered, and spatial rifts could be everywhere. Moreover, a spatial rift that can prevent a God Venerable's divine sea from healing would easily devour us."
"Be careful. I'll lead the way."
Zhang Ruochen released his Eternal Beginning Dao Domain, using the power of the Wuji Sacred Intent and the Heart of Truth to sense carefully. He stepped on the clouds and moved forward at a steady pace.
They had traveled about two hundred miles when, at the edge of the Buddha light cloud sea, a ghostly figure emerged.
His robe was adorned with skulls.
Long white fur protruded from his sleeves and robe.
He let out a sinister laugh before disappearing back into the golden Buddha mist.
...
After walking for an unknown distance, Zhang Ruochen looked around. Everywhere was an endless sea of clouds.
In his mind, a vast and aged voice echoed: "You've finally come. I've waited for you for many years. Have you seen the Three-Life Gate?"
"You've finally come. I've waited for you for many years..."
...
Zhang Ruochen's eyes were filled with suspicion. He looked back at Xiao Hei, then at Bore and Hai Shui.
"What are you looking at? What's with that expression?" Xiao Hei stepped back.
Zhang Ruochen said, "Did you hear any sound?"
"What sound? Could that ghost-type strange beast be catching up again?" Xiao Hei quickly activated the Three Enclosures and Twenty-Eight Mansions Grand Formation, with three Supreme Sacred Artifacts and twenty-eight Monarch Sacred Artifacts flying around them.
"It's not the ghost-type strange beast. It's a strange voice."
Zhang Ruochen said, puzzled, "It said it has waited for me for many years."
"Male or female?" Hai Shui asked.
Zhang Ruochen shook his head. "Hard to tell. It sounded like an old man's voice. It also said something about me finding the Three-Life Gate."
Hai Shui said, "The Three-Life Gate, in Buddhism, represents birth, creation, and vitality—the meaning of all things moving toward life. But I think here, it refers to the rule divine artifact of Patriarch Yun Qing."
"Legend has it that the rule divine artifact Patriarch Yun Qing cultivated within his divine source was the Three-Life Gate."
"The voice you just heard should be Patriarch Yun Qing calling you."
A rule divine artifact is not a true divine artifact. It is similar to a saint's "rule sacred artifact" or a Great Saint's "rule emperor artifact," representing the manifestation of a cultivator's internal rule form.
Xiao Hei glanced at Bore and laughed, "Look at Hai Shui, the little nun. She's a true Buddhist cultivator, knowing everything about Buddhism."
Bore ignored him.
"Where is this Three-Life Gate?"
As soon as Zhang Ruochen thought this, he saw a dazzling light rising at the horizon like the sun at dawn.
Instantly, the entire cloud sea shone even brighter, magnificent and vast.
In some places, grand images of temples and pagodas appeared, along with undulating spirit mountains and cascading waterfalls.
All were illusions.
Even if they had once truly existed in the divine realm world of Ancient Buddha Yun Qing, they had long been destroyed with his fall.
"That must be the divine source of Ancient Buddha Yun Qing, the location of the Three-Life Gate." Bore pointed at the distant sun.
Hai Shui shook her head. "No, the Patriarch's divine source no longer exists. Otherwise, the light of a God Venerable's divine source would have killed us all. But the Three-Life Gate should indeed be there."
Bore's gaze turned cold as she stared at her.
Hai Shui ignored her and looked at Zhang Ruochen. "Senior Brother Ruochen, since Patriarch Yun Qing's voice only appeared in your mind, you should be the only one who can reach the Three-Life Gate."
"What kind of reasoning is that? Can't I, the Emperor, go?" Xiao Hei was quite interested in the rule divine artifact of a God Venerable.
Hai Shui said, "This is the divine sea of a God Venerable. Even true gods should exercise some restraint."
"What does the little nun mean? When the God Venerable was alive, I, the Emperor, might have been wary, but he's been dead for so long. Why should I fear him?" Xiao Hei put his hands on his hips, arguing with Hai Shui.
"Roar!"
A deafening divine sound rang out, shaking the Buddha light cloud sea.
Xiao Hei was startled, thinking he had angered the God Venerable.
Bore and Zhang Ruochen turned to look behind them. A gray, deathly divine mist was devouring the Buddha light cloud sea, rapidly spreading toward them.
The towering divine body of Gui Si, like a mountain ten thousand zhang tall, emerged from the deathly divine mist and strode toward them with large steps.
"Zhang Ruochen, you must die. And Yun Qing's Three-Life Gate—I, the Master, will take it too!"
Gui Si held a war weapon in each of his four arms, lightning crackling all over his body, his divine might overwhelmingly powerful. The spatial rifts in the Buddha light cloud sea all appeared, trembling and shaking.
With his Upper True God cultivation, he clearly had no fear of a dead God Venerable.
"How did he catch up so quickly? Did Feng Chen Sword God get killed by him?" Zhang Ruochen said.
With each step Gui Si took, Zhang Ruochen, Xiao Hei, Bore, and Hai Shui's bodies trembled, their blood energy churning, and their internal organs felt as if struck by heavy blows.
Kongli Canghai followed behind Gui Si, a sinister smile on his face. "Zhang Ruochen, we have you to thank for leading us here. Haha! A God Venerable's rule divine artifact is immensely beneficial to true gods."
"Seeing that cat head of his makes me want to chop it off," Xiao Hei snorted coldly.
Kongli Canghai had two heads—one human and one cat.
Bore raised the Fate Determination Staff, which manifested both dark and light powers, splitting heaven and earth into black and white. She said, "Zhang Ruochen, go to the Three-Life Gate first. Xiao Hei and I will handle this."
Zhang Ruochen grabbed Hai Shui's wrist, spread his fourteen golden wings, and shot forward.
"Zhang Ruochen, where do you think you're going?"
Kongli Canghai gave chase but didn't dare get too close. He unleashed his death mental power, directly attacking Zhang Ruochen's sacred soul.
"Clang, clang, clang!"
Twelve Soul-Binding Bells flew out, circling Zhang Ruochen and Hai Shui.
Although Kongli Canghai was an elder god, nearly a hundred thousand years old, his spiritual power was not particularly strong—only at the seventy-first rank, only slightly stronger than Zhang Ruochen.
"Shua!"
From several thousand meters away, Kongli Canghai's white hair shot out, turning into thousands of whips, each thirty thousand meters long.
True god hair, flowing with rule divine patterns and imbued with divine fire.
Zhang Ruochen summoned the Red Child Sword and slashed repeatedly.
However, the true god hair, protected by divine Qi and rule divine patterns, was highly flexible, making it difficult for even a Supreme Sacred Artifact to cut through.
Just as he was about to be ensnared by the strands of hair, Zhang Ruochen's eyes darkened. He stopped and instead charged toward Kongli Canghai.
Kongli Canghai sneered coldly, knowing Zhang Ruochen had some remarkable Buddha inscriptions on him, so he naturally wouldn't let him get close. He blew out a fierce breath, turning it into a violent hurricane.
Zhang Ruochen used his spiritual power to activate the Mo Yang Divine Talisman.
"Sizzle, sizzle!"
On the talisman, divine-level talisman inscriptions emerged, erupting with scorching heat and transforming into a black sun that flew toward Kongli Canghai against the hurricane.
The strands of true god hair were ignited by the talisman's power.
Feeling the immense power of the divine talisman rushing toward him, his skin burning, his hair catching fire, Kongli Canghai quickly retreated, not daring to take it head-on. He was far from his peak state, his internal injuries severe, and could probably only exert twenty to thirty percent of his full combat power.